SA Book Festival

Best-selling author Ann Patchett is known for her works of fiction and nonfiction. Her many acclaimed works include Bel Canto, State of Wonder, Truth and Beauty, This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, and many others, including her latest, Commonwealth, her seventh novel, which provides a discerning, sometimes funny, sometimes heart-rending study of sibling and other familial relationships. Ann Patchett also co-owns Parnassus Books and went into the independent booksellers business when two other bookstores in Nashville closed.

Author Jan Jarboe Russell has gotten a lot of national attention for her most recent book. Now she’s appearing at the San Antonio Book Festival on Saturday to talk about it. I caught up with her recently.

Fronteras: One of the fastest growing cities in the Southwest is squeezing out pronghorn antelope. For the first time in almost 20 years, the Colorado River is flowing into northern Mexico through a dam that usually stops it. Some estimates show that the Obama administration has hit two million deportations, which is prompting protests across the country. Also, we speak to San Antonio Author Jonathan Marcantoni about his book, "The Feast of San Sebastian," human trafficking in Puerto Rico and his Puerto Rican identity.

"There is a way in which the arts serve humanity and are not just entertainment. That seems to be the drift at the moment, that the arts are there to entertain us, but that's not why human beings became dedicated artists. Even if they were driven by individual artistic vision, there's a social impulse behind the desire to create art." Barry Lopez

Former Houston Mayor and Democratic candidate for Texas governor Bill White says that the country is being misled and that a fundamental principle in America's management has been broken.

In his new book, "America's Fiscal Constitution: Its Triumph and Collapse," White makes the case that the out-of-control spending that started under President George W. Bush has departed from the nation's history; a history that saw our "fiscal constitution" shredded.